There is a path to sanity for the national Republican Party to be gleaned from the mixed election results on Tuesday night — not just sanity, actually, but victory.

The problem is that professional Republicans of all stripes will have to swallow some medicine — and as we know, everybody always thinks the other guy should take the medicine while he should get the candy.

The political world says the GOP is divided between those who believe in fighting Democrats where possible (the Establishment) and those who believe in a kind of rolling revolution against the corruptions and seductions of Washington as a whole at all times (the Tea Party).

What medicine does the Establishment need to take?

The answer was on display right across the river from Washington — in Virginia.

The Republican candidate for governor was the Tea Party favorite who leapfrogged over the more Establishment choice. And he proved to be a lousy choice, so clumsy on his feet that he went from 10 points up to 10 points down in a couple of months.

Sometime late in the summer, big donors and others who’d wasted tens of millions on other lousy Tea Party candidates in 2012 decided to save their money.

Then something happened two weeks before Election Day: the ObamaCare debacle.

The lousy candidate didn’t get much better, but by fixing on ObamaCare, he closed the gap with his rival somewhere between 5 and 10 points in two weeks and lost by 2.5 percent.

The Establishment had washed their hands of the guy. It shouldn’t have. It was clear in the middle of last week that something was changing fast in Virginia.

A major infusion of dollars and enthusiasm over the final weekend — the bad GOPer was outspent 4-1 in the final seven days — might not have made up 60,000 votes. Then again, it might have. And money has been thrown away on a lot less.

By staying on the sidelines, the Establishment will be and should be haunted by the possibility that it was responsible for the loss of a race that could have been won in a key swing state.

The lesson is partly managerial: In 1996, then-Republican National Committee chief Haley Barbour husbanded the party’s resources so that he’d have cash on hand specifically to take advantage of possibilities like Virginia, to great effect.

It’s also emotional: This is business. Don’t take it personal. Win where you can.

And that’s also the lesson for the Tea Party, many of whose adherents talk a tough-minded conservative game but are too often guilty of reducing politics to emotions. All too often, they are enraged when conservative pols reach out beyond them. That is a self-defeating attitude; all politicians outside gerrymandered districts must find voters beyond their base if they are to succeed.

Case in point: Chris Christie. Many Tea Partiers are still mad at Christie for standing with President Obama during Hurricane Sandy, and so they’ve decided against all evidence that this pro-life, low-tax, anti-teachers-union tough guy is a “Republican In Name Only,” no better than a liberal.

Viewing reality through such a distorted prism will make it difficult, if not impossible, for Tea Partiers to derive the right lessons from Christie’s staggering 22-point victory in an Obama-loving state on Tuesday night.

Which is to say: It’s not enough for a politician to hold views you like. The pol has to be able to talk to people other than you and make them feel good, too.

So the Establishment needs to improve its game. And the Tea Party needs to mature beyond its emotionally driven politics.

If both can do that, and both can, they can find new unity just at the moment when polls suggest things are going south for Barack Obama and the Democrats.

What's Your Take?

I'm surprised that Pod showed his face again after his lunatic hit pieces against Cruz. He is so far out in left field he probably believes the people are blaming Cruz for Obamacare! Delusional. As for Christie winning in miserable blue NJ it's not because they appreciate his Republican policies it's because they recognize a RINO when they see one...."pro-life, low-tax, anti-teachers-union tough guy"

Low tax? NJ still has the highest taxes in the country after CA! He is a pro-Islam, anti-gun, Obama boot licker who just might have helped O get elected and get the country saddled with Obamacare! That's some tough guy. He is a phoney and did you know he has never and will never appear on O'Reilly's Factor what do you have to hide, fat boy?

Nobody ever defines the Tea Party. One thing it shouldn't be is a faction for social conservatives. That should be a separate faction. We should all be able to agree on that and I mean everyone inside the Tea Party itself needs to agree that religious issues must not be part of that platform. The real civil war in the GOP is not TP vs Establishment but libertarian vs religious authoritarian and the fight is WITHIN the Tea Party itself.

Even if they have to object to normal sexual behavior, which is a mistake, they mustn't condemn normal heterosexual behavior. Cuccinelli lost the sexually active male vote! That's one constituency the GOP can't afford to tick off.

In almost all the cases of lost elections for TP canddates, the reason for the loss has had nothing, nothing at all to do with what the TP ideology is supposed to be which is small government. It has always, in every case, been because the TP candidate carried another, more religious, agenda which was seen as authoritarian, which is the opposite of small government.. This was seen as toxic, especially to libertarian conservatives who are supposed to be the core of the Tea Party itself. That's why even a LINO could get 7% of the vote in VA.

The sentence where it says that the Republican establishment
believe in fighting Democrats where possible is what bugs me.This is the theory of opposition for the
sake of opposition and not negotiating and compromising because it might make
Obama and the Democrats look good on some topic.This is, in addition to the Tea Party that’s willing
to fight both Democrats and establishment Republicans, what causes gridlock and
the abysmal ratings that the Republican party gets in congress.The Democrats are not an enemy that must be
fought wherever possible.They are good
and patriotic Americans who differ from Republicans on many issues, mostly
economic, and should be treated as such.The Mark Leven, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh rage and hatred is what is
destroying America and shouldn’t be part of intelligent discourse.

The Republicans will continue to lose elections if they insist on ideological purity. The Democrats had this same disease until Bill Clinton came along. He asked the question,"Is it better to be ideologically pure or win elections". Chris Christie is a disciple of the latter. Will he get the nomination or are the Republicans too stupid to nominate him?

Poor John thinks the splintering is a disease that requires medicine. RINOs just don't understand that the splintering IS the medicine. But then they wouldn't understand that, because THEY are the disease.

This is another one-sided opinion. The Tea Party is not all emotion. Nor is the establishment all about pragmatism. There's a lot of arrogance at the top, a lot of wheeling and dealing with the wrong people, a lot of big money interests that screw the little guy, a lot of K Street and Wall Street and not enough Main Street.

I agree that there is more than enough blame to spread around for the loss in Virginia: both the state GOP and the national GOP should shoulder some of the blame. However, I'm not clear on why Chris Christie deserves praise for his "blowout" win, when everyone knows that he scheduled a special election to replace Lautenberg three weeks before his own re-election specifically so that (theoretically) the popular Mr. Booker would not be on the ballot. Would Christie have won re-election by 22 points with Mr. Booker on the ballot? No. It would have been much closer. So, before we canonize Governor Christie, let's find some evidence that he will be able to compete on the national stage. I am not sold on Christie as the next Republican nominee, but I'm not ardently opposed. I am willing to be persuaded, but his shenanigans regarding the New Jersey special election are not an encouraging sign. It looks to be, at the very least, morally questionable, almost as though he cheated. A blowout election that would not have been a blowout had he scheduled a special election on the same date as his own re-election has a rather noticeable asterisk next to it.

"...those who believe in a kind of rolling revolution against the
corruptions and seductions of Washington as a whole at all times (the
Tea Party)." Chris Christie is your typical corrupt politician, according to the latest book about the 2012 election by Mark Halperin. Professional Republicans? God save the republic...

Love the willingness to give "advice" to a group you oppose. Pardon me if I don't take you seriously. Here's the truth: Our country turned a corner when the voters reelected Obama after 4 years of dishonesty and incompetence. As a nation, we have begun the transformation into something much less than the vision the founders had way back in 1776. As a result, the likes of Obama are feted, characterized as a centrist or a moderate when they are nothing of the sort. (Christie is the future of the Republican party? If so, watch the party die...). The question you should be asking is: What does the Democrat party envision for the future of the United States? No more equivocating, lies or deceptions - tell the people what the libs want for the future and be honest about it. That, sir, will be a much more difficult article for you to write rather than giving platitudes to the Republican party.

Your need to have the Republicans die is a little to fervant. The fact that we all dont agree is healthy for our Republic. The Dems on the other hand are lock step into the pits of hypocrsy. Its just a matter of time when Americans come to thier senses. And that time is escalating towards us faster due the extreme dishonesty of our President made evident by Obamacare. Remember you Libs, Hitler persuded many Germans to hate other Germans just because they were Jewish. The same can be said about Obama and the Tea Party. We after all are just fellow Americans practicing our freedom of speech.

Take their medicine? Come together? Really? I think not. Try this on for size. The three main components of the GOP are Social Conservatives, Fiscal Conservatives, and Defense Hawks. The Social Conservatives will go the way of The Tea Party. The Fiscal Conservatives will align with Wall Street. The Defense Hawks will go with whoever caters most to their goals. Additionally, the Libertarians might form a coalition with the Fiscal Conservatives/Wall Street faction, but obviously won't support Social Conservatives or Defense Hawks.

What lies ahead is NOT drinking the kool-aide and chanting in unison, Mr. Podhoretz. There's a big split up ahead that's being driven by, shall I say, "irreconcilable differences". Each faction strongly feels the need to have it's own identity and it's own voice separate from the GOP as we've all known it in the past. Will the GOP lose more elections because of this? Yes. It's inevitable. However, they at least have the potential of getting a few things done via coalitions... if they can stomach compromising on some of their principles and values.

@Diane H We have our own party it's called the REPUBLICANS. Just like the socialists have hijacked the democrat party, the establishment has hijacked the Republican party and have become the new democrats, big government, big spending, completely out of touch statists. But have no fear, Americans are ready to take our party back, and that's what has left leaning twerps so nervous

@WILLIAM JASTROW So fundamentally changing America is jake with you, huh? Socialized medicine, no matter how clumsily constructed, is what you want, huh? Allowing Iran to pull the wool over our eyes with respect to nuclear weapons is a breath of fresh air as far as you are concerned, huh? Loading up the country with a bigger debt than has ever been seen on Earth is fine, right?

@Charlie Ilaria Yeah there is nothing ideological about Barack Obama, right? I dont know what turnip truck you fell off of but you might want to go to your Obamacare doctor to get your head checked. Maybe you will actually get in to see him before the midterm election!

@Henry Crum I disagree. I think it's a sign the base is fed-up with politicians who cater to Wall Street and K Street. Both parties ignore the middle class and listen only to the special interests. Right now the Dems are in bed with the insurance industry; the GOP leadership is hot for immigration "reform" which will only help the big guys who hire that source of cheap labor. The rest of us can go to hell.

@Dixie The Tea Party was a grass roots movement that sprang up after Washington bailed out Wall Street and the big banks--but left the little guy screwed royally. It had nothing to do with social conservatism--which is merely on the fringe of the movement. Of course there's a bit of overlap--but it's absurd to think Palin or Cruz or Rubio are nothing but social conservatives. It's a caricature and a distortion of what's actually going on in the fight against the establishment. The Tea Party--as a recent Yale study indicated--is comprised of citizens more affluent and better educated than most. It is all about fighting K Street and Wall Street and the cozy cronyism that exists between them and Washington politicians of both parties. It's all about putting the people's interests first. It's fighting for Main Street, for reform that takes America back from special interests.

@Anferny9097 . @writeblock IThe Tea Party is for smaller government and less spending. If that's without substance to you, you need to get your nose out of Das Kapital and look around. The country's broke. And it's musclebound with useless regulating agencies and deep into cozy relationships with crony capitalists. That may not be socialism--but it's damn close to fascism.

@writeblock@Dixie See this is where I feel you have your heart in the right place but you are on the wrong side. How is a movement funded by billionaires trying to cut the corporate tax rate going to help the Wall Street situation? They want to deregulate them not get their act together.

@Anferny9097 .@writeblock You're confused. The making of regulations is what a bureaucracy does--and it's killing the little businesses of America, not the big guys. Ask anyone who owns a small business. Hell, even for the private individual the paperwork is getting ridiculous. That's not hypocrisy, that's life in America--a soft tyranny run by Democrats and their sympathizers.

@mnjam@writeblock It's too damn big when it sticks its nose into every corner of our lives while simultaneously pushing our kids and grandkids into permanent peonage. Right now it tells us what to eat, what to put in our dishwashers, what cars to drive, what to wear when we bicycle, what light bulbs to use, what fuels we can burn, what we can say, what we must think, etc. There is no aspect of our lives beyond its pernicious reach.

@writeblock Zero substance until and unless some T-partier answers the following: (1) how do you measure the size of the government; (2) how big is it by your measure; (3) how small should it be by your measure; (4) how do you get to that size. "Being for smaller government" without such specifics epitomizes a lack of substance.

@writeblock I think you should move future comments to this reply so we can keep up the discussion in an easier way. It's fine to do it on both though I don't mind. My main gripe is this. The Tea Party seems two faced to me. They talk about backroom deals and all that but when it comes down to it they just want to get rid of all regulation that stands in the way of big business. It seems like a sinister trick to me.

@Anferny9097 . Nonsense. The Tea Party is against the establishment of both parties. Why do you suppose it is primarying McConnell? What's the gripe? It's not because it's demanding purity on social issues. It's because McConnell makes the same kind of cozy arrangements in the backroom that Reid and Obama make. Obama may rail against the 1 per cent, but he privately caters to big money. It's the big money, not the general public, that wants to pick our pols--and the Tea Party is disgusted with that kind of control It's not the way the founders wanted the country to work.

@writeblock Let me tell you what the Tea Party is about. They are a group off middle class whites funded by billionaires. The rich rile them up and get them jumping at boogeymen like blacks and "Big Government" and socialism (affordable healthcare oh noooo!) then they try and strip down environmental regulations so the businessmen that support them can pollute and make bigger profits at a lower tax rate. You think they are looking out for you? Unless you own a multi-national corporation you are being USED sir

@writeblock Its not the funding I object to. For example I thjnk Soros is a good guy. He wants financial regulation. The people that support the Tea Party want to get rid of the minumum wage and all regulation so they can steamroll the little guy. It's not money that makes you evil. Its what you stand for. I have personally never heard a Tea Party member talk about Campaign finance or regulating Wall Street. The Democratic Senators tried for it though. Harry Reid was a big part of that. Who can you say that about in the right wing? That's a fair question.

@Anferny9097 . @writeblock @Dixie No, it's the other way around. The GOP is no more funded by billionaires than the Dems. Soros is just as involved in politics as the Koch brothers. Both parties make backroom deals you never hear about. Hillary just got a half million from Goldman-Sachs for 2 fifteen minute speeches.Do you think--hey, maybe that outfit might expect something by way of a favor some day? It's how Washington works--it's how the whole town works, including the media situated there. It's all about favors and deals, carve-outs and exemptions for the special few. It's about legal stealing, crony capitalism, ripping off the taxpayers. It's what the Tea Party wants reformed. The town is corrupt, both parties are corrupt.